political department could mean, within the grim world of a concentration camp, a relatively pleasant place to work, or it could mean torture and execution. References Sources Kirsten, Wolfgang. Das Konzentrationslager als Institution totalen Terrors. Centaurus, Pfaffenweiler 1992, Kogon, Eugen. Der SS-Staat. Das System der deutschen Konzentrationslager, first published by Alber, Munich (1946); republished by Heyne, Munich (1995) Orth, Karin. Die Konzentrationslager-SS. dtv, München 2004, Nazi concentration camps Nazi SS Gestapo